Unmanned aerial vehicle airspace reservation and allocation system

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for reserving airspace for UAV operations. In some implementations, a flight planning system can reserve and allocate airspace for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations. For example, a UAV operator device can submit a flight plan to the flight planning system. The flight planning system can submit a flight authorization request to an airspace management system to reserve airspace necessary for the flight plan. The flight planning system can receive approval and/or a reservation of the airspace for the flight plan from the airspace management system, generate a flight data package, and send the flight data package to the operator's device.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system comprising:
 a memory; and 
 a processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
 analyze, based on a prediction of a future event, data to determine a possibility of future property damage to one or more structures located in a geospatial area; 
 based on the possibility of future property damage:
 generate a flight plan usable for an inspection of the one or more structures, the flight plan including one or more waypoints defining a planned flight for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to inspect the one or more structures; and 
 reserve airspace for the inspection based on the flight plan; and 
 
 transmit the flight plan to at least one of a control station or to the UAV. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the data is at least one of weather data, natural disaster data, accident data, or network service data. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein, to reserve the airspace, the processor is configured to execute instructions to:
 generate a flight authorization request based on the flight plan; 
 transmit the flight authorization request to an approval system to reserve the airspace; and 
 receive approval from the approval system for the flight authorization request. 
 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein, to reserve the airspace, the processor is configured to execute instructions to:
 determine whether one or more previous flight authorization requests are associated with the geospatial area; 
 generate one or more new flight authorization requests based on the one or more previous flight authorization requests, wherein the one or more new flight authorization requests includes revised flight time information based on the data; 
 transmit the one or more new flight authorization requests to an approval system to reserve the airspace; and 
 receive approval from the approval system for the one or more new flight authorization requests. 
 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein, to reserve the airspace, the processor is configured to execute instructions to:
 generate a flight authorization request based on the flight plan; and 
 transmit the flight authorization request to an approval system to reserve the airspace, and 
 wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to:
 receive modifications to the flight plan; and 
 update the flight plan based on the modifications. 
 
 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein, to analyze the data, the processor is configured to execute the instructions to:
 determine whether the data describes at least one of a hail storm, tornado, flood, or weather event that may cause property damage. 
 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions to:
 determine a first time period when a weather event associated with the data is predicted to end and, 
 wherein the flight plan includes a second time period for flight of the UAV in which the second time period occurs after the first time period. 
 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions to:
 transmit a flight data package including the flight plan to a ground control station, wherein the ground control station is configured to transmit at least a portion of the flight data package to the UAV. 
 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 8 , wherein
 the airspace includes allocated airspace blocks, and wherein the flight data package includes information describing the allocated airspace blocks. 
 
     
     
       10. A flight planning system comprising one or more processors configured to:
 determine, based on a possibility of future property damage associated with a prediction of a future event to occur within an area, airspace corresponding to the area in anticipation of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight operations associated with the area; 
 generate a reservation request to reserve the airspace; 
 transmit the reservation request to an approval system; 
 receive approval of the reservation request from the approval system; 
 determine, based on the possibility of future property damage and the approval of the reservation request, a flight plan including one or more waypoints in the airspace for a UAV; and 
 generate a flight data package including the flight plan for transmission to at least one of a control station or to the UAV. 
 
     
     
       11. The flight planning system of  claim 10 , wherein the control station is at least one of a ground control station, a cloud-based control station, or a UAV-based control station. 
     
     
       12. The flight planning system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
 receive event data from an event service; and 
 determine the possibility of the future property damage based on the event data. 
 
     
     
       13. The flight planning system of  claim 12 , wherein the airspace is determined based on the event data. 
     
     
       14. The flight planning system of  claim 12 , wherein the event data describes an event for a geospatial region and includes geospatial information and time information. 
     
     
       15. The flight planning system of  claim 10 , wherein the flight data package includes information describing allocated airspace blocks associated with the airspace. 
     
     
       16. The flight planning system of  claim 10 , wherein the airspace is defined as a volumetric area described by geospatial coordinates defining boundaries of the airspace. 
     
     
       17. A method comprising:
 receiving data including geospatial information and time information associated with a prediction of a future event; 
 analyzing the data to determine a possibility of future property damage to one or more structures located in a geographic location; 
 based on the possibility of future property damage:
 generating a flight plan usable for an inspection of the one or more structures, the flight plan including one or more waypoints defining a planned flight for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to inspect the one or more structures; and 
 reserving airspace for the inspection based on the flight plan; and 
 
 transmitting a flight data package including the flight plan to at least one of a control station or to the UAV. 
 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein reserving the airspace comprises:
 generating a flight authorization request based on the flight plan; 
 transmitting the flight authorization request to an approval system to reserve the airspace; and 
 receiving approval from the approval system for the flight authorization request. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 17 , wherein reserving the airspace comprises:
 generating a flight authorization request based on the flight plan; 
 transmitting the flight authorization request to an approval system to reserve the airspace, and 
 wherein the method comprises:
 receiving modifications to the flight plan from the approval system; and 
 updating the flight plan based on the modifications. 
 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 17 ,
 wherein the airspace includes allocated airspace blocks.